When you think of data loss for a wedding photographer you typically think of lost photos from the perfect wedding, an angry bride and a career on the line. But this photographer’s data loss scenario is different. Sal Cincotta is an international award winning photographer, author, educator and trainer. While his clients’ images and files were securely backed up, he learned a good lesson about backing up his own personal computer when he lost over 477,000 critical files. Luckily for him, DriveSavers Data Recovery recovered his data before things turned ugly.

Cincotta was having a normal business day when his laptop stopped responding. He received an error message. Then, after a reboot, another message appeared from the operating system that stated “Unknown Operating System.” Cincotta lost access to all of the data on his computer.

“My mental state was quickly deteriorating as I thought about the importance of my email and documents stored on my laptop,” said Sal Cincotta of Salvatore Cincotta Photography. “I had my life on that machine, and it did not include client images. Everything in our studio is backed up with diligence…client images 100 percent safe and backed up. So, why in the world am I not backing up my laptop?”

With his laptop out of commission and his emails and business files inaccessible, Cincotta quickly realized that he was out of work – at least for the time being. Stopping work for a week or more could set Cincotta’s studio back for weeks or maybe, even months.

Cincotta is a member of Wedding Photographers International (WPPI) and a platform speaker at WPPI Conference this week. As a WPPI member, he is eligible to receive discounts on DriveSavers Data Recovery services. When Cincotta received confirmation from an Apple Store Genius Bar that the drive was dead, he called DriveSavers Data Recovery.

“The best part was that I actually spoke to a person at DriveSavers,” said Cincotta. “They took me through the data recovery process and told me what to expect. Several times a day, they called to give status updates. The first call reported that 98 percent of my files were recovered. To say I was elated at the news is the understatement of the year.”

When it comes to data loss, DriveSavers has helped photographers overcome the impossible including the successful recovery of more than 750 images from a camera that was submerged in 60 feet of frigid Alaskan waters for three days.

DriveSavers recovers data from all removable media, hard drives and flash memory cards. Successful file recoveries include digital images, accounting records, client information, contacts, calendars and customer mailing lists. Photographers, musicians, game developers, web/graphic designers and major film and audio studios such as DreamWorks, Lucasfilm, and NBC Universal Studios have turned to DriveSavers for data recovery.

DriveSavers was the first company to successfully perform digital camera data recovery and is recommended by all digital camera manufacturers to perform data recovery on their digital media products. Through the WPPI partnership, members receive a discount on DriveSavers Data Recovery Services. Additionally, if the data is unrecoverable, members will not be charged an attempt fee for DriveSavers Standard or Economy Services. For more information, visit DriveSavers Data Recovery or call 800.440.1904.

About DriveSavers Data Recovery

DriveSavers Data Recovery, the worldwide leader in data recovery, provides the fastest, most reliable and only certified secure data recovery service in the industry. All of the company’s services meet security protocols for financial, legal, corporate and healthcare industries and it is the only company that posts proof of its annual SSAE 16 SOC 2 Type II audit report and HIPAA data security and privacy compliance. DriveSavers Data Recovery adheres to US Government security protocols, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act Data Security Rule (GLBA), the Data-At-Rest mandate (DAR) and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). DriveSavers Data Recovery engineers are trained and certified in all leading encryption and forensic technologies and operate a Certified ISO 5 cleanroom. Customers include: Bank of America, Google, Lucasfilm, NASA, Harvard University, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, US Army and Sandia National Laboratories.